The Universe
by stella-pegasi
Summary: Atlantis has returned to the Pegasus Galaxy and has just received a report from the SGC regarding the events at the Icarus base and that the research team was now stranded on an Ancient ship with no way home. JS/RM/others. Complete.


**I am among the Stargate Atlantis fans who are still upset over the cancellation of the series for what I feel is an inferior show. My opinion only. But I wondered how our Atlantis crew would react to the news about the team now stranded on an Ancient ship with no way home. Hope you enjoy.**

**The Universe**

**by stella_pegasi**

"There you are!"

"Here I am, Rodney," Colonel John Sheppard looked up from the lounge chair he was sprawled in, beer in hand. "And there are you."

Rodney glanced at him and then looked back at his pad, "Did you read this report we just got from SGC? Can you believe this?"

"Yes, Rodney, I read it and what's not to believe? Lorne, get this man a beer; Ronon bring that chair over for our good doctor."

"What's not to believe? Are you serious? I told the SGC when Zelenka found the address with the ninth chevron in the Ancient database that we should head up the research to determine how to get there but no, they said we had our hands full here. They gave the project to Nicholas Rush, that jackass couldn't figure out anything."

Ronon brought the chair over and looking down at Rodney said, "Sit."

"What, uh…hey, what are you doing out here?" Rodney just realized that they were outside of one of the buildings located next to the central tower. He had been looking for Sheppard and had Amelia tell him where to find the Colonel but hadn't really paid attention to where he was going. He had just followed the sensor data she sent to his pad.

"We are celebrating our return to Pegasus and if you remember, we called you over an hour ago to come join us." Sheppard took a drink from his beer and motioned up to the sky. "Look at it Rodney, this feels like being in a big city, sitting at an outside café, and enjoying the night." Rodney looked up and was amazed by the sight, Sheppard was right; it looked like they were on a street in Manhattan. The tall buildings surrounding them were lit up like the skyscrapers in NYC and the patio he was standing on had some small tables scattered around. There was even a street of sorts between the buildings.

"Wow, I now realize that you do have an imagination, Colonel, rare for a military man but sometimes you do surprise me. However, the lack of people crowding the sidewalk, no noise, and a serious shortage of taxis sort of makes it so not a city."

"Now, Rodney, what has happened to your imagination? Have a beer, maybe it will come back. Sit." He motioned to the chair that Ronon was still standing next to.

Rodney looked around, there were several reclining lawn chairs and at least 5 were now arranged around a round fire pit. "Where the hell did you get this?" pointing to the fire pit.

"Ah...it wasn't too hard to bring a few comforts of home onto Atlantis while we were sitting in the middle of San Francisco Bay, Dr. McKay. Like that special mattress you managed to get aboard." Sheppard smiled coyly.

Rodney sputtered, "How did you know… I am not talking about this with you."

Sheppard laughed and Rodney sat down and leaned back in the lounge. Lorne handed him a beer and then went back to his own chair.

Rodney cracked open his beer and took a long swig. "This is not bad, not bad at all. You might be on to something, Sheppard." Just then a loud snore broke the quiet. "Who is that?" he asked, looking over at a lump curled up in a chair next to Sheppard.

"That would be Dr. Carson Beckett who had three beers and went to sleep." Sheppard pointed to Beckett and then reached for another beer.

"Sheppard, are you drunk?"

"No, but I am quite mellow as are Ronon and Lorne. Now what are you so upset about in that report."

Rodney put down his beer and paused before he spoke. "Look I'm smart, and before you go making some wiseass comment, you know I am. I've put a lot of time and hard work in to get where I am and so has Radek and just about everyone one on Atlantis. We've paid our dues and to have the SGC and the IOA just pass us over and hand something as important as figuring out the 9th chevron to an egotistical and incompetent idiot is infuriating."

Sheppard sat up, which took more effort than it should have, he thought maybe he should dial back on the number of beers he had planned on consuming.

"Rodney, are you just upset because of what they found? I mean, that ship sounds pretty impressive; didn't the report say it was a couple of hundred thousand years old? That's getting up there, even for Ancient standards. Think about it, we all wondered how the gates came to be on these planets. Now we know. That's a pretty big thing, I think. Another Ancient mystery solved and more to solve."

"It's not what they found, it's who found it."

"Jealousy doesn't become you, Rodney."

"I am not jealous, Sheppard. Rush was not the person for this job and now they are trapped on that ship and no one knows where they are. They are just out there, all those people with a really slim chance to get home."

Ronon had been listening intently to the two men, he hadn't read the report but Sheppard had given him a quick rundown, mostly about the how the gates were apparently placed on planets automatically by this ship. "You know, McKay, I don't know anything about science but isn't it a good thing to know about this ship? I mean, I don't know of any people here that knew how the gates got to their planets."

Looking a bit exasperated, Rodney said, "Yes, it is a good thing; I mean it's a big thing, to know how the Ancients seeded the galaxies with gates. It's just that after 2 years he couldn't figure out the power requirements and had to turn to voodoo tactics to get help."

"What are you talking about, how they got that kid to join the Icarus project?"

"Yeah…I mean…" Rodney stopped; he was interrupted by the appearance of Richard Woolsey and Dr. Radek Zelenka.

"Gentlemen, I see you have started without us." Woolsey walked over to the fire pit, "Colonel, I am glad to see that the fire pit works."

Sheppard swallowed, "You knew about the pit?" Woosley just looked at him and smiled, leaving the Colonel to wonder what else Woolsey knew about.

Ronon got chairs, Lorne got beers and soon the new arrivals were leaning back looking up through the tall Atlantis buildings at the darkened sky littered with sparkling stars.

Sheppard wanted to continue the discussion with Rodney; he knew Rodney well enough to know that he was troubled by the events with the Icarus team. Sheppard also knew that it was more than jealousy; Rodney didn't have a reason to be jealous of anyone. Not that Sheppard would ever admit that to him. No, something else was bothering Rodney and he needed to find out what it was before he had too many more beers.

"Mr. Woolsey, we were just talking about the report we got today from the SGC. Rodney has some reservations about the situation."

"Sheppard, I…yeah, I have some reservation."

Radek was opening his beer but stopped and looked at Rodney. He shook his head, agreeing with Rodney. He muttered something in Czech and continued with his beer.

Woolsey spoke, "I thought that you had some concerns Rodney and I see that Dr. Zelenka seems to concur. What's eating at you, Doctor?"

Rodney leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. "You know that Rush has worked on the Icarus project for two years. We told the SGC in the report we sent when we found the address with 9 symbols in the database that it would most likely take enormous power to dial an address with 9 symbols. They knew that going in and the SGC found a planet with a super radioactive core that might give them enough power to try and dial the address. They beamed a gate onto the planet and two years later, the great Dr. Rush still hadn't figured out anything."

"But why does that make him an idiot, Doc? I'm no scientist but doesn't some of this stuff take years to figure out?" This came from Lorne, his voice was a little slurred but he was still functional.

"Yes, it does; but this guy had so much data from the Ancients and he could have had help from us and from Sam Carter and from Dr. Lee but the IOA wouldn't allow us to even consult on the project. It was like they wanted to ignore us and do everything all by their lonesome. Almost like they were done with us and on to another group they could try and manipulate; as if Atlantis didn't have anything else to offer."

Radek had already finished his first beer and was reaching for his second complements of Lorne, "It is true, we had thoughts about how to calculate the power consumption but every time we tried to discuss the situation, we were treated like we didn't exist."

Sheppard had leaned back in the lounge and was staring at the sky. "Rodney, they figured it out. According to the report, he brought in some young brilliant kid and he got the power numbers worked out. What's the problem with that? Is this just because they didn't ask for your help?"

Rodney jumped up from the lounge chair and started pacing, "No, it isn't professional jealousy or hurt feelings. It is how they took something as important as the stargate program and put it into the hands of someone not competent and certainly not the kind of person who would be loyal to the program."

He continued, "Do you know how they found the brilliant kid? The Air Force put out a video game called _Prometheus_ and embedded an exceptionally difficult formula written in ancient in the game. They trolled for young scientist who could find it and then figure it out. They were looking for the few and the proud."

Sheppard laughed, "Rodney, that's the Marines, not the Air Force."

"Bite me, Sheppard; you know what I mean. They used a stupid video game to find some kid smart enough to figure out a formula that Radek could have probably done in his sleep!" No one missed the string of Czech words that spilled out of Radek's mouth at that comment; well, no one but Rodney. "What the hell do they think this is a movie? Well, I can tell you, what were they thinking when they used an idea from a stupid movie; they weren't thinking at all."

Sheppard sat up, "The Last Starfighter? That movie? I liked that movie but I can't believe that is how they recruited that kid. What ever happened to career fairs at colleges?"

Ronon looked over at Sheppard, "I liked that movie!" Sheppard grinned back at him.

Woolsey had been quiet for a while but he spoke up, "You know Dr. McKay, this 'kid' as you call him dropped out of MIT because he didn't feel challenged. That's got to say something about his ability. I would think that MIT would challenge anyone regardless of how smart they are. Perhaps he is very smart."

"What it says to me is that he is lazy; if he wasn't challenged, he should have gone after his professors and made them find something to challenge him with. The fact that an untrained kid with no direction who spent his days playing video games had to bail out the great Dr. Rush is an embarrassment."

Sheppard finally had enough and asked the question that had been on his mind since the conversation began, "Tell me, Dr. McKay, what did this guy did to you to piss you off so much?"

Rodney had stopped pacing and decided to sit down. "Look, I realize that I sound pretty petty here and yes, I have a history with Nicholas Rush but that's not what I am upset about. To answer your question, I worked with Rush on a project years ago, before I even heard of the Stargate program, and I didn't like him."

Sheppard interjected, "Did he like you Rodney?"

"Hey, I told you not to be a wiseass. No, he didn't; in fact, he loathed me because I caught him trying to use some of my data for his own report. I will admit I was a bit arrogant and hot headed back then and was very protective of my research."

That statement brought laughs, or better described as, giggles from Radek and Lorne and Woolsey just shook his head. Sheppard, however, laughed out loud, waking Dr. Beckett.

"Wha's gonna on?" he slurred. Sheppard quietly said, "Nothing, Doc, go back to sleep." Beckett settled back down and was out in seconds. Looking back at Rodney, Sheppard apologized. "Sorry, Rodney but that was funny; I mean you certainly can't be accused of that now." There were still giggles in the background.

"Hardee, har har, flyboy, very funny," Rodney sat back in the chair and folded his arms.

Woolsey had finished his beer and got up to leave. "Dr. McKay, the truth here is that there is a group of people who are lost and may never be able to return home. We should be concerned about that and hope that they can be helped. Gentlemen, I still have some paperwork to finish; I will say goodnight." He turned and walked toward the central tower.

Ronon also decided to leave; it was time for Amelia's control room shift to be over. With a wave of his hand, he followed Woolsey to the tower.

Sheppard looked over at Radek and Lorne and realized they had both fallen asleep. He was about to say something when Rodney said, "Looks like they passed out." Sheppard figured Rodney's assessment was more accurate than his. He watched Rodney who had sunk back in his chair. He knew there was more to what was upsetting Rodney and he was going to find out what it was.

"So it's just us now; well, just us and three passed out guys. What's really bothering you, Rodney?"

"I'm worried about those people, John." The use of his first name caused Sheppard to sit up straight. Rodney rarely called him John, most of time he only used his first name when things were serious. He supposed things were serious.

"Why?"

"They may not ever make it home."

Sheppard knew his brain was fuzzy from the beers but it didn't take much for him to realize what was eating at Rodney. "You are thinking about us, aren't you? And the first year we were here, when we didn't know if we were ever going to go home."

"It's more than that, much more than that, John. I know about Rush and I don't trust his motives. No one has ever been able to figure him out. But what do you know about Colonel Young?"

"Not much, except for those few months we were back on Earth when the Ancients returned, I haven't spent much time at SGC. I heard about him when I was in Iraq during the first Gulf war; he's a pretty smart guy, good officer."

Rodney shook his head, "Lorne told me that he heard some things about him when he was back at the SGC conducting those training courses last month, just after all this happened. Seems as though the good Colonel has a wife and is reported to have been having an affair with a woman in his command as well."

"Rodney, what the hell does that have to do with what's happening to these people?"

"Don't you get it? He's not you?"

"Me? What are you talking about?"

Rodney got up again and stood by the fire pit which was beginning to burn down.

"Sheppard, we wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you. Your pigheaded, macho, military swagger and sheer determination to save us all has kept us alive."

"Thanks for the compliment, I think." Sheppard paused, "Look Rodney he's a qualified officer, he'll take of them."

"No, John, he won't. Not like you take care of us. Any man who would fool around on his wife with someone in his command is not focused on his responsibilities. This guy is more concerned about his libido than his command."

"Don't you think you are being a bit harsh on this guy? You don't have any way of knowing for certain that he is what you think he is."

"No, I don't know for sure how he will perform but I know one think for certain. He isn't you." Rodney's words were barely out of his mouth when Sheppard got up and walk over to him.

"Rodney, stop. You don't know."

"Yes I do, I do know; you have a moral compass that most people can't comprehend. You try to act like nothing fazes you but you, you take everything to heart. You worry about us every waking moment. You do what is right, even if it's wrong. None of us, none of us have to worry about whether you would move all the stars in the Universe to save us; we know you will. What happens to those people if they don't have a "you" to keep them alive? They don't stand a chance."

Rodney began to pace again. Sheppard just stood in his tracks; he didn't know how to respond to what Rodney had just said. The Rodney McKay he met in Antarctica would have never been concerned about a group of people he barely knew or had never met. This Rodney McKay had begun to care about more things than science. He was thankful when Rodney continued to talk.

"You know, they don't have me, either. Rush is smart and maybe this kid, Eli or whatever, is smarter than he is but neither one of them understand this technology or really anything about the stargates and what has been going for the last 14 years since we started going through the gates. They are going to come across things they have never imagined and reading all the mission reports won't prepare them for the real thing."

He looked at Sheppard almost pleadingly, "They don't have us, you, me, Teyla, Ronon, Lorne, Radek, Jennifer, Carson; they don't have us. They don't have Carter or O'Neil or Jackson or Teal'c or General Landry. Between us, we have saved the Pegasus and Milky Way galaxies over and over. These guys are ill-prepared, not trained properly, not equipped, and thrown out there to fend for themselves by the IOA; a group of bean counters and grandstanders. Who is going to save them?"

Sheppard walked up to Rodney and grabbed his arm. "Listen, Rodney; there isn't anything we can do. Decisions get made, stuff happens, good and bad. I am worried about them as well but we can't fix this. The 'man' decides this stuff, Rodney. I just get to kill the bad guys and you figure out how to get us home. Hopefully this group will become a team and figure out how to survive, even if they never make it home. If they don't, we can't help them. The thing we have to remember is that we still have a job to do here; we have to protect each other and Pegasus.

Rodney dropped his head for a second and then looked back at Sheppard. "You're right; we can't help them. They are on their own."

"Come on, brilliant scientist, help me wake up these sleeping beauties and get them back to their quarters. We will all get a good night's sleep and be ready to face the good and the bad tomorrow."

"Together, right, Sheppard?"

"Together, Rodney, always together."

Fin


End file.
